earth

22Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Celebrate Earth Day Every Day Not Just Today

The first Earth Day was a shot heard around the world. The first Earth Day protests, which took place on April 22, 1970 brought 20 million Americans – 10% of the U.S. population at the time – into the streets. Recognizing the power of this growing movement, President Richard Nixon and Congress responded by creating the Environmental Protection Agency and enacting a wave of laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. But Earth Day’s impact extended far beyond the United States. A cadre of professionals in the U.S. State Department understood that environmental problems didn’t stop at national borders, and set up mechanisms for addressing them jointly with other countries. For scholars like me who study global governance, the challenge of getting n...

As The Climate Warms Two-Thirds Of Earth’s Land Is On Pace To Lose Water – That’s A Problem For The People, Crops And Forests

The world watched with a sense of dread in 2018 as Cape Town, South Africa, counted down the days until the city would run out of water. The region’s surface reservoirs were going dry amid its worst drought on record, and the public countdown was a plea for help. By drastically cutting their water use, Cape Town residents and farmers were able to push back “Day Zero” until the rain came, but the close call showed just how precarious water security can be. California also faced severe water restrictions during its recent multiyear drought. And Mexico City is now facing water restrictions after a year with little rain. There are growing concerns that many regions of the world will face water crises like these in the coming decades as rising temperatures exacerbate drought conditions. Unde...

What is the slowest thing on Earth?

In the words of the infamous villain, Dr. Evil: “Lasers.” Lasers focus a narrow, directed beam of light on a specific spot, making them a great tool for cutting, burning, welding – or in the case of Dr. Evil, shooting enemies from atop a shark. These activities all produce or require heat. Laser beams travel at the speed of light, more than 670 million miles per hour, making them the fastest thing in the universe. So how does a laser produce the slowest thing on Earth? First, it’s important to understand the relationship between an object’s temperature and its speed. The hotter something is, the more energy it has and the faster it moves. Even things that appear to be perfectly still – say, a pen or your notebook – are not. On a microscopic level, the particles they’re made of are movin...